DENVER – The MSU Denver cross country teams are becoming masters of their home course.
 
The Roadrunners' men raced to a strong third-place finish, while the women were a solid fifth on Saturday at the Roadrunners Invitational at Washington Park.
 
"I think this was one of our best-ever years on this course," said Amando Rego, MSU Denver's associate head coach.
 
Noel Lopez finished seventh in the men's field – including fifth among collegiate runners – while Mia Salas led the Roadrunners' women by placing ninth, including fifth among Division II competitors.
 
Lopez ran 8 kilometers in 24 minutes, 41.01 seconds, which is 37 seconds faster than his previous best on the course – which had stood as the program record.
 
"I knew the competition was pretty steep, especially compared to previous years," Lopez said. "But it's also really exciting to stack up against a lot of good guys early in the season. I knew I wanted to get out hard and get in good position, because if I got pushed to the back it would have been hard to move up.
 
"The first 400 was pretty hot. But I maintained a good pace all the way through and slowly caught guys towards the end, which was pretty much the plan."
 
As Washington Park is also the site of the Nov. 9 Division II South Central Regional, a large and deep field of teams entered for both men and women.
 
Salas looked strong in her second Roadrunners Invitational, finishing 6K in 21:46.34, the second-fastest time ever by a Roadrunner in the event, and 37 seconds faster than her effort last year.
 
"Today, just because there were a lot of women in the race compared to last year, it was a lot deeper," Salas said. "So it was good practice to get off the line quick and get used to running that first mile hard. It isn't super hilly, but it is a hard course, and I think it was good for us to have that experience moving forward for the regionals."
 
Also scoring for the men were JJ Ramey, 22^nd in 25:34.90: Jordan Duran, 24^th in 25:39.41; freshman Darren Hayden, 55^th in 26:25.64; and Jonathan Duran, 60^th in 26:28.08.
 
The strong finishes in a field of 186 were encouraging.
 
"We always know we can count on Noel and JJ – they're very consistent," Rego said. "But Jordan has been showing in workouts that he's right up there with those guys. I told him that he could run with them, and he did it today.
 
"Jonathan got out a little too fast today, but he can be right up there, too."
 
The breakthrough by Hayden was also big.
 
"We've got a whole group of freshmen who, I knew when I recruited them, could be up there," Rego said. "You don't know for sure how a freshman will respond to his first 8K, but they've been mixing it up and stepping it up in workouts. So I'm not too surprised, but I'm really pleased by Darren."
 
In the women's race of 143, finishing behind Salas for MSU Denver was Marissa Bruno (33^rd in 23:06.88) and a solid pack of Audrynn Street (44^th in 23:31.84), freshman Marin Smith (48^th in 23:32.91) and Tanis Chavez (50^th in 23:34.03).
 
"We knew we needed someone who could close that gap between our pack and Mia, and Marissa has really stepped up and done that in workouts," Rego said. "It's one thing in training … but she proved that it's legit and she's ready to be at that next level.
 
"Marin, Audrynn and Tanis were all together at the finish line, which was really exciting. That's what you need in cross country. We've got a really good front runner, Marissa is solid at second, and then we had a pack, which is huge."